Kite attachment.



Patented-Fab. n, |902;

nu 692,993. v Y

s. w. FLETCHER...

klu Muslim-:NL (Application led 1651219, 19.01.)

Affargeys UNITE Sacs ATE @Erica SIDNEY lV. FLETCHER, OF VIBORG, SOUTH DAKOTA.

KITE ATTACHNI ENT.

SPEGKFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 692,998, dated February 11, 1902.

y Application iled March 19, 1901. Serial No. 51|903. (No model.)

To all whom, it muy concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY W. FLETCHER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Vi! struction wherein a parachute may be attached to the kite in such manner as to be released therefrom bythe action o f a knife held in a carrier slidably engaged with the kitestring and which is moved into operative position by the action of the wind that sustains the kite, further objects' and advantages of the invention having'relation to specific details of construction, all of which will be apparent from the following description.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in both views, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a kite equipped with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the carrier or traveler which carries the knife that releases the parachute. u

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a kite, including the crossed sticks 5, 6, and 7, upon which is fixed the body 8, at the lower end of which is attached the tail 9 by means of the cord 10 in the usual manner.

The bridle of the kite includes the six stays 11, each of which* is attached at one end to one of the sticks of the kite-frame, and at its opposite end is attached to a plate`12, which is adapted to lie parallel with theface of the kite, and centrally of which is attached a ring 13 through the medium of a metal strip 14, the plate being of wood or of any other suitable light material of sufficient stiifness. To the ring 13 is attached the kite-string 15, by means of which the kite is flown.

The parachute that is employed is shown at 16 and-may be of any'specific construction to unfold when dropped, -and it has a ring at its upper end, (shown at 17,) to which ring is attached a cord 18, which is taken upwardly and through a ring or loop 19 at the'point of crossing of the sticks of the kite-frame, then forwardly and through a second ring or loop 2O at the lower edge of the plate 12, and finally upwardly and is attached to the ring 13, the weight of the parachute holding the string taut between the ring 13 and the lower edge ofthe plate, it being understood that the tension of the kite-string is sufficient to hold the ring 13 with the connection 14; taut. Thus if a knife be drawn across the cord 1S it may be readily cut and the parachute released and permitted to drop and unfold.

To cut the cord 18, a traveler is provided for the kite-string to run thereon, and consists. of a frusto-conical body portion 20', of paper, pasteboard, or other light material, at the minor end of which is a cylindrical eX- tension 2l,- which carries an annular knife 22, the cutting edge of which is disposed away from the body portion of the traveler. Across the major end of the body 20' are disposed wires 23, which carrya ring 24, while a second ring 25 is carried by other wires 26, disposed across the minor end of the body, and these two rings, which aline centrally of the body 20', have the kite-string passed therethrough, so that the carrier may slide freely along the kite-string.

In placing the carrier upon the kite-string the minor end thereof is disposed in the direction of the kite, so that the wind that sustains the kite may enter the major end of the carrier, and thus blow it along the kitestring and in the direction of the kite until the knife 22 is brought into contact with the stringlS between the ring 13 and the lower edge of the plate 12 when the knife will out tlie'string and release the parachute in the manner above described.

It'will be understood that in practice modiiications of the specific construction shown may be made and that any suitable mate= rials and proportions may be used for the various parts without departing from the spirit4 of the invention.

1. The combination with a kite and the string thereof, of a parachute havingan attaching-string, means for holding the'parachute-string at an angle tothe kite-string, and a traveler upon'the'kite-string and having a knife for engagement with the parachute-string to cut it.`A

2. The combination with a kite and the string thereof, of a plate attached to the kite and with which the kite-string is connected, guides upon the plate and the kite, a para# chute having an attaching string passed through the guides and connected to lie at an angle to the kite-string, and a traveler disposed slidably upon the kite-string and havinga knife for engagement with the string of the parachute to cut the string and release the parachute. v

3. -The combination with the kite, of a parachute attached to the kite by means arranged adjacent to the kite-string, and a traveler on the kite-string adapted to engage said attaching means and to effect the release of the parachute.

4. A Wind propelled traveler for kitestrings including a frust0-conical body poreeaees my own I have hereto afxed my signature 3o in the presence of two Witnesses.

SIDNEY W. FLETCHER.

Vitnesses:

GHAS. N. MADEEN, RICHARD FINLAY. 

